E-commerce Update: Conversion Rate Flattens

Here, the IndieCommerce team shares an important look at current trends in the world of e-commerce.

The average e-commerce conversion rate (the percentage of website visitors that complete an online order) last week increased to 5.08 percent, compared to 4.87 percent the previous week. The increase in the rate was largely due to sales by one store’s special event on October 8 and 9. When we filter out that store’s numbers, the conversion rate was about the same as the previous week.

Traffic dropped by 3.9 percent when compared to the previous week. Much of that seems to be due to a decrease in direct traffic to store websites (when customers enter a URL or click on a bookmark) as well as a decrease in traffic from social media referrals to store websites.

The flat conversion rate and the decrease in traffic resulted in a 4.38 percent drop in revenue when compared to the previous week. The decrease in direct traffic and referral traffic from social media to IndieCommerce and IndieLite websites may indicate that customers are continuing to shift to in-store sales, resulting in lower online traffic.